Unit bias, sometimes referred to as “unit preference” or “unit-of-account bias,” is a cognitive bias that most cryptocurrency founders exploit to attract investors. It refers to the tendency of individuals to focus on the price per unit of a cryptocurrency rather than its actual value. This bias can mislead investors into thinking that cheaper tokens are a better deal simply because they can buy more of them, without considering the token’s total supply or its underlying utility.
The issue with unit bias is that it often causes people to overlook the fundamentals — things like the total supply of the token, its scarcity, or its network security — in favor of owning a larger nominal quantity of cheaper units. This focus on unit count rather than value is what many new investors fall prey to — particularly in a market saturated with thousands of alternative tokens.
The Psychology Behind Unit Bias
At its core, unit bias taps into a basic human tendency: the belief that more units of something are inherently better than fewer units of something else. For example, an investor may feel more satisfied owning 1,000 tokens priced at $0.10 each, as opposed to 0.01 bitcoin, even if both investments are roughly equal in dollar value. This skewed perception is based on the sheer number of tokens rather than their actual worth, driving many to prefer assets that appear more “affordable.”
How Crypto Founders Exploit Unit Bias
Cryptocurrency founders know how to capitalize on unit bias. They often create tokens with massive supplies to keep the unit price low, making them seem more accessible and attractive to inexperienced investors. These projects are designed to lure people in with the promise of owning thousands or even millions of tokens, often using marketing tactics that frame their coins as cheaper, faster, or superior alternatives to Bitcoin.
Take Shiba Inu (SHIB) as an example. With a supply of one quadrillion tokens, the price per token is extremely low, which leads investors to believe they are getting in early on something akin to bitcoin’s early days. However, this strategy is an illusion. A token’s low price doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good investment — what matters is the token’s fundamentals. Bitcoin, with its fixed supply of 21 million coins and a decentralized, secure network, offers a far stronger value proposition, even if it costs more per unit (trades at a higher unit sticker price).
The Reality: Price Does Not Equal Value
A low token price does not equate to better value. The true value of a cryptocurrency lies in its fundamentals: its total supply, scarcity, security, decentralization, and utility.
Bitcoin has a fixed and provable supply of 21 million coins and a robust, decentralized network, which has proven its value over time as a store of value. In contrast, Ethereum has an unlimited supply, meaning more ETH can be minted, potentially diluting its value.
Here’s a comparison to illustrate this point:
With $1,000 at the time of writing, you can buy 0.015625 BTC or 0.2857 ETH. While you may own a smaller fraction of Bitcoin’s total supply, its fixed maximum supply of 21 million makes it a far scarcer asset than Ethereum, which has an unlimited supply and is subject to constant inflation or deflation, depending on how the wind blows.
In the chart below, measuring Ethereum against the U.S. dollar, it is noticeable that Ethereum — for now — is rising in value against the declining value of the dollar.
Should you change your denominator to bitcoin, an entirely different pattern emerges: Ether is declining in value against bitcoin.
Bitcoin’s well-established and defended market position, its strong fundamentals, and its larger market capitalization has earned it a higher level of trust and stability. Despite owning a smaller percentage of Bitcoin’s supply, the capped supply and higher market confidence make Bitcoin a more valuable long-term investment.
As ether is considered one of the better cryptocurrencies, the decline in value against bitcoin is even worse for 99% of cryptocurrencies.
The Pitfall of Speculation
Unit bias often leads to speculative investing, as investors chase after cheap tokens hoping for substantial gains. However, over a full market cycle, the vast majority of these cryptocurrencies fail against Bitcoin. While some may experience short-term gains due to hype or speculative bubbles, they typically lack the fundamentals necessary for long-term sustainability and value retention.
Bitcoin’s fixed cap of 21 million coins makes it a scarcer and potentially more valuable asset over time compared to Ethereum, Solana, or any other altcoin which typically have unlimited supplies liable to change at any time. Bitcoin’s reliable status and its established market position underscore the importance of investing based on fundamentals rather than the allure of cheap tokens. Therefore, it’s crucial to conduct your own calculations and verify claims independently, guiding you toward investing in Bitcoin’s proven stability rather than gambling on often worthless speculations.
